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Book Review: “Hand Spun: New spins on traditional techniques” by Lexi Boeger

"Hand Spun" is a new book about spinning art yarn by Lexi Boeger. It's 160 pages, priced at $24.99.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to review “Hand Spun: New spins on traditional techniques” by Lexi Boeger. As I don’t spin yarn myself and have no aspirations to do so in the future, I wasn’t really the best person to review a book like this, but I asked Lisa Marazzo, the owner of the new yarn shop in Clark, All About Ewe, to review it for this blog. Lisa is a spinner, and she sells spinning wheels and teaches spinning at her shop. She jumped at the chance to write this review, and I offer you this review as a way for you to get to know her better, as well as a way to acquaint you with a book that might interest you.

Here is Lisa Marazzo’s review:

I love to spin. I love books about spinning. I have two wheels and more dyed roving and fiber than I can count/weigh. I also have a collection of fleece from a wide variety of sheep and alpaca. I am what I like to think of as a traditional spinner. I never gave much thought to spinning funky art yarns, but with this book, my eyes have been opened.

This book will inspire you to spin yarn the likes of which you may never have spun before.

Lexi covers many bases in this book, from washing fleece, to profiles of farmers and fiber artists. She shows many techniques for spinning and plying to get the look and feel you want from your fiber. Everything is covered in a concise but flowing manner. It doesn’t take her pages and pages to explain the mechanics of a technique. She gets you started core spinning, tail spinning and making coils with some quick tips on fiber prep, wheel set-up and hand/treadling methods, and then you’re on your way.

You can learn to spin a glorious boa with the help of this book.

The best part of the book, though, is the last third. It is here that she shows you what you can do with the crazy, cool things you spin. I can’t think of another book on extreme spinning that actually gives you patterns and ideas to make your works of art usable, as opposed to just having them lie around looking trendy. There are patterns for a thick-and-thin tail-spun hat, a chunky, squishy scarf, some shawls, cowls, wrist warmers and the most incredible alpaca boa I’ve ever laid my eyes on.

I highly recommend this book to any spinner looking to shake up their traditional spinning style. Lexi writes in an easy-going style that really makes you want to try her ideas and see what you come up with. It happened to me: Immediately after reading the section on tail spinning, I grabbed my Romney fleece and a big handful of Border Leicester locks and spun to my heart’s content.

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About the author

Pam MacKenzie
Our real estate editor, Pam MacKenzie, expresses her creative side in this blog about knitting. Pam learned to knit at age 6, when her friend’s mother made Pam’s doll a dress, and Pam wanted to make more. Her mother wanted her to learn how to sew in high school, but she was afraid of the sewing machines, cutting fabric the wrong way, and the potential that sewing would have for bringing down her grade-point average. Every year, she managed to find a course conflict to avoid sewing classes. But the day after high school graduation, she took her graduation money to a fabric store, bought a kit to make a sweater, taught herself to read patterns and never looked back. These days, she knits a prayer shawl every month, along with sweaters, tote bags, gift bags and other goodies. She also designs many of her projects. Read More About PamE-mail Pam